An Arm Around The Shoulder

The death toll is shockingly high and still rising. The physical damage across three Southern coastal states is staggering, almost incomprehensible. One of the world's great cities, New Orleans, is nearly vacant and in ruins. The economic costs from the storm have begun to ripple out, jarring us all. The immediate steep price increases at the gas pump and possible fuel shortages in the next few days may be only the beginning.

Residents of the Southeastern states are only too familiar with hurricanes, but this one has set a new and vicious standard. Americans who view reports of monsoons in Bangladesh or a tsunami off Indonesia with sadness but with the detachment that comes with distance now understand.

Amid the calamity, officials and volunteers are doing their best to master the ravages of water and wind. Sad-eyed, sober-voiced governors, mayors and disaster relief officials execute evacuation and rescue plans, but so far their efforts seem almost puny compared with the monumental natural forces arrayed against them.

President Bush cut short his Texas vacation, flew over the stricken area and returned to the White House to lead federal relief efforts. He promised local and state officials the help that they need. The Pentagon dispatched Navy ships and maritime rescue teams to the Gulf Coast. A health emergency was declared and Washington began sending food, medicine and fresh water to victims.

Officials are doing what they can. But are they saying the right things? Hope and reassurance can be powerful allies in the long recovery battle to come, but especially now, in the darkest hours.

We can't help but remember the example set by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City in the searing days after terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center. The mayor gave comfort and strength not only to the people of New York but the entire nation with his resolute, indefatigable, you-haven't-beaten-us persona. Mr. Bush, too, united and inspired all Americans when he appeared at Ground Zero. Similarly, President Bill Clinton spoke and grieved for the nation as mourner-in-chief following the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995 -- a skillful acquitting of the ceremonial function of the presidency that helped to resurrect his falling poll numbers.

Of course the brave and battered people of the Gulf Coast need fresh water, electricity, food and information about their families and homes. But they could also use something like the Giuliani touch. Mr. Bush is certain to go to the hurricane-ravaged zone soon -- but the sooner the better.